Hell Teacher Nube 156

Strange things can have premonitions even in the human world, where they have no ideas what is happening! For Hiroshi and Kyouko, a bizarre weather phenomenon may lead them into discovering something even weirder...

#156: It’s Raining Though It’s Sunny? The Fox Wedding

137.
Hiroshi: Al—right, it’s super-good weather--!
Nube: Um—today we’ll be nature-sketching at Doumori Castle-Site Park!
(TN: There are a couple of complex, strange terms used here that needs a bit of explaining:
-First of all, the full name of the park where Nube’s class is going to this time is “Doumori Joushi Kouen”. While we have previously come across the idea of “Doumori-jou” or “Doumori Castle” in a previous chapter, the full name of the park doesn’t merely use “-jou” but “joushi”, which is a word for the site of a castle or a castle’s ruins.
-Second, the type of activity that Nube states that the class will be performing is in Japanese “shasei”, which typically is “sketching” but also has a particular translation of “nature-sketching”, which makes more sense with Nube’s class going out into the field)
Students: Ya—y!
Student: See! There isn’t a cloud in the sky since Nube’s class is great in it’s typical conduct—
SFX: Po
Nube: N
SFX: Za—za—

138.
Nube: It’s a “Fox Wedding”.
Caption Box:
*Fox Wedding: When rain suddenly comes down in fine weather without a cloud in the sky. There is a tradition that says that at that moment, foxes are getting married.
(TN: The legend mentioned here is literally “Fox Wedding”, with a Japanese reading of “Kitsune no Yomeiri”. The general legend regarding this incident regards that the wedding procession of the fox bride included this strange phenomenon, which brought good luck and happiness to the entire family from then onwards. It is also known as a “sunshower” in English.)

139.
Hiroshi: Fox…?
Nube: Seems so, a fox is…
SFX: Ki ki-- | Dobesha!
Nube: Kya—
Tamamo: Oh, Nueno-sensei. It’s been a while.
SFX: Gacha
Nube: Ta…Tamamo! Even if a fox is a fox, I wasn’t calling for yo—u!
Tamamo: Haha, you weren’t? In truth, I too am busy today. I’ll play with you again another time.
Tammao: Adios.
SFX: Burororo…
Kyouko: Wh…what was with that entrance?
Nube: Hmph: I figured. He was impatient and came out since he hadn’t had an appearance recently!
SFX: Lerolero

140.
Caption: Doumori Castle-Site Park
Nube: Don’t go too far.
Hiroshi: Ri—ght.
Girl: Let’s go way over there.
Hiroshi: Al—right, I’ll draw an artistic masterpiece.
Kyouko: Hey—Hiroshi—let’s go over to the woods over there.
Hiroshi: I’m fine here.

141.
Kyouko: Don’t say that~~let’s go—no one is there in those woods over there—(heart)
SFX: Moji moji
Hiroshi: Eeh!?
Hiroshi: What, it’s leaking out? So then, I’ll keep company as you pee.
SFX: Baki!
Hiroshi: Hey, are we going to go to that far like this?
SFX: Gasa gasa
Kyouko: Well it is embarrassing.
Hiroshi: Really, you could do it around here and—yet.
Kyouko: ………
Hiroshi: …Really…
Kyouko: …Hiroshi…a moment.
Hiroshi: What, for paper?
Kyouko: Wrong
Kyouko: Somehow come.
SFX: Gui
Hiroshi: Wa

142.-143.
Hiroshi & Kyouko: !!
Hiroshi: Huh…
Kyouko: Hey!? Hey!? I saw this amazing thing when I was peeing.
Kyouko: The Fox Wedding. That legend was true…
Hiroshi: By the way, you were surprised and it leaked out…
Kyouko: Pa…pardon me. It was exactly over…
(TN: I think somehow Hiroshi is still talking about Kyouko peeing in connection to the discovery of the Fox Wedding, thus the usage of “morasu” or “to leak out” here in English, leading to Kyouko’s sudden embarrassment)
Hiroshi: !
SFX: Baki! (Crack)

144.
SFX: Giro
Bride: This here can only be known by foxes. Foxes…humans mostly don’t come…both of you are foxes. Foxes of which mountain…?
Hiroshi: We…we’re foxes of Mukougahara of Mukouno-town, ko—n. We’ve come to congratulate you, ko—n.
(TN: There is no real “Mukouno” (unless you count the town in Uganda) but it has a literal translation of “Yonder Field”, while “Mukougahara” is “Yonder Meadow”. BTW: “Kon” is typically a sound in Japanese in references to the sound made by foxes)
Caption: Magic Marker
Kyouko: Hi…Hiroshi!

145.
Hiroshi: You dummy, we have to deceive them due to this…shut it: we have to make a misunderstanding with great pains. I’ll draw whiskers on you too.
Kyouko: Kya
Lady: You’ve come well.
Hiroshi: He—re, they’re deceived.
Kyouko: (weird symbols)
Lady: Well, well, enter the line.
Kyouko: Ah, no, well.
Assistant: Don’t show reserve.
Fox 1: But you’ve transformed skillfully. You’re like real humans.
Fox 2: Amazing; you’re transformation geniuses. Even your scent is human.
Fox 3: Kekeke: if they were humans, it would be interesting and yet…there’s a law that humans who see a Fox Wedding get torn limb from limb.
Kyouko: Hi~~wha~~t do we do Hiroshi~~
Hiroshi: Shh, if it’s come to this, then we cannot expose ourselves and only look for an opening and run.

146.
Katsuya: Hiroshi and Kyouko aren’t here. They went into the woods.
Miki: That’s suspicious; it’s an amazing thing of wha—t those two will do in the middle of the woods.
Nube: Ha ha h; don’t say such stupid things. It’s already late: everyone go home; I’ll search for them.
Students: Ye—s.
Nube: ………………………
Nube: Y…you ca~~n’t. Don’t be hasty, Hiroshi, Kyouko! You two are still grade schoolers…still grade schoolers…
SFX: Da!
Caption: What are you thinking, Nube?
Nube: These are…the burned bones of animals…? It can’t be…

147.
Female Guest: Well, be happy.
Male Guest: Be happy.
Kyouko: What is this?
Hiroshi: Hey, it seems like food. I have come to be a bit hungry.
Hiroshi: Gyaaa
SFX: Baka

148.
Kyouko: Wh…what do~~we do~~
Hiroshi: What~~do we do…
SFX: Ji----…
Hiroshi: Ah~~it seems delicious. So then, down the hatch. I’ll eat the share of two people—
Kyouko: Ah.
Hiroshi: Gue
Kyouko: Hi…Hiroshi…
Hiroshi: Delish, delish.
SFX: Mogu mogu (munch munch)

149.
Guest: It’s alcohol, alcohol.
Kyouko: Ge…that’s oil…
Caption: Foxes are said use oil, rub together the bones of animals and make foxfire.
SFX: Kachi | Bo
SFX: Ji----….
Caption: Desperation
SFX: Kachi!
SFX: Dobaa~~~

150.
Kyouko: Hiroshi! Hiroshi--!
Fox 1: What an amazingly poor foxfire.
Fox 2 Strange
Fox 3: There’s something strange.
Fox 1: You two, are you really foxes?
Fox 2: If you’re foxes, you should be able to transform.
SFX: Bon!
Kyouko: Ju…just a moment, we can’t do that~~~
SFX: Bon bon bon
Hiroshi: ………………
Hiroshi: Transfo—rm: Mysterious Butt Person! Mysterious Butt Person!
(TN: Hiroshi’s “Mysterious Butt Person” is literally “Oshiri Kaijin”, with “Oshiri” being “Butt” and “Kaijin” as “Mysterious Person”)

151.
SFX: Shira~~
Fox 1: They’re strange.
Fox 2: They’re strange.
Fox 3: They’re strange, they’re strange.
Hiroshi: Ku…and yet I was self-confident in the Mysterious Butt Person.
Bride: They’re humans.
SFX: Gogogogo
Foxes: Its humans! Kill! Tear them limb from limb
SFX: Zazazaza
Hiroshi: Damn it…is this it?
Kyouko: Kyaaa!!

152.
Nube: Hold on—
SFX: Baki
Kyouko & Hiroshi: Nube
Nube: These children just saw the Fox Wedding by chance. Forgive them!
Fox 1: Silence! This is law!
Fox 2: The Fox Wedding is known with the rain!
Fox 1: You’re unforgivable! Humans
Nube: Cease, stop this!
SFX: Ga ga
Fox 2: Die!

153.
Fox: It’s Daki Gongen Tenko-sama—
(TN: It’s really tough for me to really state whether “Daki Gongen Tenko” is a title or a name, but it literally translates into “Heavenly Fox, Incarnation of the Tea of Heaven”)
SFX: Za za za
Nube: Daki Gongen Tenko…!?
Bride: Yes: we invited one of the greatest levels of foxes so we could celebrate today’s wedding. Kekeke…it’s the end of all of you.
Nube: Ku…they’re saying it’s their boss. What exactly is this person…
Nube: Huh! What an intense youki; it…it’s…!
SFX: Gogogogogo

154.
Tamamo: What are you doing in this place, Nueno-sensei?
Nube: Ta? Tamamo!?
Tamamo: Well, since today is the procession of the Fox Wedding to the nearby Inari shrine, I as a 400-year old youko was asked to be a go-between in speaking to humans.
Tamamo: Can’t you forgive them? That human is a rival that should be defeated by me.
Foxes: Haha.

155.
Nube: Fuu, you saved us Tamamo… (Noo, the thing I should be possessed as is his rival…)
Tamamo: However, in place of him being forgiven, he’ll be dancing the celebratory Yasuki Bushi. Right, teacher?
(TN: “Yasuki Bushi” is a song and dance performed by fishermen with drum and flute music tied to the harbor city of Yasugi. After being performed in Tokyo and Osaka, the dance and song became popular in those cities as well)
Nube: Huh!?
Foxes: Hao~~!

156.
Nube-sensei’s
(Useless) SUPPLEMENTAL EXPLANATION

#6: Foxes and the Inari Faith

From ancient times, foxes were used as gods of agriculture who invited abundant harvests and had a grateful existence. This being changed by humans and coming to be considered as an evil existence who presents harm was said to be the act of the youko who had come from China. In particular, since it was connected with Daki Niten of Shingon Mikkyou, it seemed to be established with this evil image.

Daki Niten is called “Dakini” in India and is a dreadful female-demon god said to eat the organs of corpses in the middle of the night, but was cursed by Vairocana and reformed, becoming a god. This was connected to the Inari religion of Japan and she became the god of agriculture and business in the Heian period. After this, it seems it came to be used as sorcery in the Kamakura Period.

Even with this, currently the fact that it hasn’t lost the people’s faith as a god is obvious even in the number of Inari shrines that are in the entire nation of Japan. (There are approximately 80,000 shrines throughout Japan; among them, the Inari Shrines which deify foxes are 30,000, which accounts for 40%!) Looking at it as such, foxes aren’t completely opposed of humans and aren’t coming to be their allies; they’ve seem to have reached a neutral existence.

(TN: A few notes on the information provided here:
1. As established prior, “Shingon Mikkyou” is a Japanese term for the esoteric Vajrayaana practices of Shingon Buddhism, usually synergized with the concepts of Japanese religion, combining many elements with the mysticism, folk traditions and concepts of Shinto to create a uniquely Japanese version of Buddhism.
2. Daki Niten, as mentioned being “Dakini”, is generally seen as a tantric being who embodies the female embodiment of enlightened energy. She is a major force in particular with Tibetan Buddhism, who is seen as a muse for spirituality. She is seen in Japanese Buddhism, though, as more a female demon (yasha) as stated prior and is many time tied to foxes, including the infamous “Tamamo-no-Mae” that has been previously discussed.
3. Vairocana, known in Japanese as “Dainichi Nyorai”, is seen as a celestrial Buddha acknowledge as the “bliss body” of the real Buddha as the embodiment of the Buddhist concept of “emptiness”. He is also seen as the main center of Japanese Buddhism at the center of the universe and being all and everything in existence.
4. It’s tough to say how many shrines in Japan are devoted to Inari, but one survey taken about 1995 states that the amount comes out to about 32,000, further stating that it is about a third of all Buddhist shrines, as opposed to the “37.5%/40%” stated here…which also seems to discount the number of Inari shrines as 80,00 when this could suggest more)

TN: Is it just me or is the comedic timing for Nube improved a lot in the last few chapters, at least for one particular gag each time. Last time it was the usage of Miki as "Nube", and this...well, Tamamo appearing out of nowhere when Nube starts talking of the "fox wedding" phenomenon. Luckily it ultimately did tie in with the chapter itself and wasn't some stupid cameo like...well, certain series I really don't want to mention here, but it was a funny bit. Aside from that, this was probably a very weird chapter if only because a lot of it is based for the most part of the interaction between humans and foxes and...well, the fact that Hiroshi and Kyouko were blundering their way through it this time and nearly force Nube to fall likewise because of said blundering. With as much as we've seen of Tamamo in the human world since the series started, it is interesting to see the tables turned and see humans forced in a situation where they have to bare with foxes and their strange customs in a country where they are both so respected and loathed. Somehow I sort of wished Kyouko did a bit more since she was the one who lead to the "fox wedding" being discovered in the first place and it felt like she didn't do much while Hiroshi, Nube and Tamamo did all the work..but I guess they were all just being stubborn gentlemen about it...or in Tamamo's case, a "stubborn fox". If she discovered it, she probably should have helped in getting out of it since...well until Tamamo showed up, they weren't getting out of there any time soon. But hey, at least he's pleased that Nube was made to look like an idiot just to get away from their celebration.